It’s not the most elegant solution for coping with the hardships of college life, but anonymous Facebook confession pages are popping up online for post-secondary institutions throughout B.C. and may be a helpful first step for students battling depression or thoughts of suicide, according to administrators of the pages.

The pages, which are typically created by students and unaffiliated with the post-secondary institutions themselves, have gained tens of thousands of followers who submit confessions, lurk anonymously or post comments and advice.

Students send their confessions to page administrators using Facebook’s private messaging feature; the confessions are then vetted and posted for others to see.

“I think sometimes it’s nice telling a secret to someone, just kind of letting it out without expecting anyone to say anything back, per se,” said the administrator for UBC Confessions, who spoke anonymously by phone.

Between 40 and 50 confessions are sent to UBC Confessions each day and up to 10 are posted, the administrator said.

“Most of the confessions that I’ve received lately — maybe it’s because it’s getting cold, dark early — it’s a lot of heartbreak. They’re just a bit embarrassed to tell their friends, they just need to let it out somewhere.”

Common themes arise in the confessions, which are usually candid and often crude: Infidelity, promiscuity, cheating on exams, failing to study, skipping classes, admitting a crush.

But when UBC Confessions was first created in February 2013, the administrator received several students’ suicide notes.

“That was a really big obstacle to overcome, because I had to reach out to the university. I had a few meetings with UBC Mental Health Network as to what I can do or how I can help in those situations. Or whether, even, I should post them.”

When the administrator posted someone’s confession about self-harm, the Mental Health Network warned that it might convince other students to think self-harm is a normal behaviour and encourage them to do the same.

The administrator of SFU Confessions, who also spoke anonymously using Facebook messaging, said students who submit more alarming confessions to the page are referred to a suicide helpline and given a link to SFU’s counselling service.

“They all really appreciate an outlet to let out their feelings and confessions, and also the fact that I keep it active on a daily basis. I have had circumstances where I have talked to a lot of people battling depression and somewhat helped them out of it by making it more bearable and giving them a person to talk to.”

There’s a downside to the anonymity, however, according to Eric Meyers, assistant professor at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at UBC.

“People are putting up things that are really more boasts about their accomplishments, or in some cases, their idiocy,” Meyers said.

“In some cases it’s really more about bragging about something, or really just acknowledging that you feel like a poser in the academic environment, than it is about confessing something that you would want to change about yourself, or something that you feel sorry about.”

Meyers said it’s important that the confessions pages are linked with a set of trained professionals and services that can identify and mediate real problems, like in the cases where administrators put vulnerable confessors in touch with counselling services.

“People might use this as a first step to opening up something that they’ve largely internalized, and feel that by externalizing it, they can begin the process of change or healing or improvement or problem solving,” Meyers said.

“I really wanna emphasize this idea that it’s not therapy. Here, it’s like an open mic with everyone with paper bags over their heads. People can say anything.”

Paul Schratz, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, said he sees little resemblance between the university confessions pages and the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation, but said it’s healthy that students seem to be striving to remove their sense of guilt after recognizing they’ve done something wrong.

“The main thing with Catholic confession is it’s founded on contrition, which means you’re sorry for your sins,” Schratz said.

“You’re admitting to the priest that you’ve made a mistake, you regret it and you’re going to try harder in the future so it doesn’t happen again. That doesn’t seem to be the case with UBC Confessions. Some of them might be expressing regret and others, you would almost think are bragging.”

The pages could be a useful outlet, however, for students who need to express where they’ve “fallen down” in life, he said.

“I think UBC Confessions recognizes that people are looking for peace-of-mind. You know, it weighs on you and after a while, if you don’t get that off, you need to find an outlet, you need to find that opportunity for reconciling yourself.”

#1985: To whoever finds the $20 I dropped on campus ... Spend it on alcohol. It’s what I would’ve wanted.

#1978: I cited Wikipedia

#1722: Last weekend I saw my 55-year old male TA at Wreck Beach fully naked. I can’t look him in the eyes anymore.

SFU Confessions

#6327: Getting bad grades is pretty much taking one for the team. It pulls down averages so more people are allowed to be given better grades without affecting the department average. So, you’re welcome classmates.

#6313: Yesterday I fell walking up the stairs. It was so embarrassing. How does one fall walking up the stairs? #ouch

#6297: No one ever talks to me. I honestly do not know if I’m too ugly or just too attractive.

UVic Confession

#162: Last night I brought my dad to campus to party with me and my friends and found out he’s way cooler and better at beer pong than me. #upstaged

Langara Confession

#620: I don’t really know what I’m doing with my life. I feel like a failure in all aspects of it ... School, work and relationships. But I still walk in a room with my head high in heels, like I own the place.

BCIT Confession

#50: Another semester, another round of overpriced dust collectors otherwise known as textbooks. Still haven’t opened a single one.

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